Browse by: "2009"

Going for Growth 2009 highlights the most appropriate structural reforms to pursue to improve performance, takes stock of recent progress in implementing structural policy reforms and identifies five policy priorities for each OECD country that could lift economic growth in the long run. It calls for reforms in a number of areas in order to strengthen labour productivity and employment, including reforms to education systems, product market regulation, agricultural policies, tax and benefit systems, health care and labour market policies. In addition, this issue contains four analytical chapters covering taxation and economic growth, reform of product market regulation, infrastructure investment and the effect of population structure on employment and productivity.

The 2009 edition of Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators enables countries to see themselves in the light of other countries’ performance. It provides a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of indicators on the performance of education systems and represents the consensus of professional thinking on how to measure the current state of education internationally.

The indicators look at who participates in education, what is spent on it and how education systems operate and at the results achieved. The latter includes indicators on a wide range of outcomes, from comparisons of students’ performance in key subject areas to the impact of education on earnings and on adults’ chances of employment. New material in this edition includes first results from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) on teacher practices as well as teacher appraisal and feedback; an analysis of the social benefits of education; information on long-term unemployment and involuntary part-time work among young adults; a review of trends in attainment; data on the incentives to invest in education which show the benefits of education in dollar amount across OECD countries; and a picture of excellence in education for 15-year-olds, based on findings from the PISA study.

Electricity Information is the International Energy Agency's comprehensive annual review of historical and current market trends in the OECD electricity sector, including 2008 preliminary data. This volume brings together essential statistics on electricity and heat.

Part I of the publication provides an overview of the world electricity developments in 2007, covering world electricity and heat production, input fuel mix, supply and consumption, and electricity imports and exports. A greater focus is given to OECD countries with more detailed information covering production, installed capacity, input energy mix to electricity and heat production, consumption, electricity trades, input fuel prices and end-user electricity prices.

Part II of the publication provides a corresponding statistical overview of developments in the world and OECD electricity and heat market, as well as monthly OECD production and trade electricity data for 2008.

Part III provides, in tabular form, detailed and comprehensive statistical coverage of the power and heat industry developments for each of the 30 OECD member countries and for OECD and IEA regional aggregates. It provides comprehensive statistical details on overall energy consumption, economic indicators, electricity and heat production by energy form and plant type, electricity imports and exports, sectoral energy and electricity consumption as well as prices for electricity and electricity input fuels for each country and regional aggregate.

A number of renewable electricity technologies, such as wind, wave, tidal, solar, and run-of-river hydro share a characteristic that distinguishes them from conventional power plants: their output varies according to the availability of the resource.

This is commonly perceived to be challenging at high shares, but there is no intrinsic, technical ceiling to variable renewables’ potential. Variability has to be looked at in the context of power system flexibility: if a power system is sufficiently flexible, in terms of power production, load management, interconnection and storage, the importance of the variability aspect is reduced.

Electricity production is responsible for 32% of total global fossil fuel use, accounting for 132 EJ, and 41%, or 10.9 Gt of energy-related CO₂ emissions. Improving the efficiency of electricity production therefore offers economic benefits and a significant opportunity for reducing dependence on fossil fuels, which helps to combat climate change and improve energy security.
A set of indicators has been developed to analyse the energy efficiency of electricity production from fossil fuels on a global level and for a number of key countries and regions.

The Inernational Energy Agency's periodic review of Luxembourg's energy policies and programmes.  It analyses the energy challenges facing Luxembourg and provides critiques and recommendations for further policy improvements.

Since the last review in 2004, Luxembourg has reformed its energy policies across all sectors, has fully liberalised its electricity and natural gas markets, and is actively participating in the development of the evolving Central West European regional electricity system. Luxembourg has also prepared a broad action plan on energy efficiency, improved the support system for renewable energy sources and revised taxes to mitigate climate change.

The country’s energy policy in the coming decade will be shaped by the EU 2020 targets that call for substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and strong increases in renewable energy and energy efficiency. These targets will be hard to meet, given that roughly half of energy-related CO₂ emissions come from transport fuel use by foreign truckers and motorists, and that Luxembourg’s potential for producing much more renewable energy is limited.

Luxembourg is heavily dependent on oil. Although oil sources are well diversified by country of origin, more than 85% of oil stocks are held in neighbouring countries and often based on short-term leasing contracts. This leaves the country vulnerable to potential oil supply disruptions. Luxembourg should swiftly implement a plan to improve the security of oil supply.

 

The International Energy Agency's 2009 review of Portugal's energy policies and programmes.  This edition finds that Portugal has made considerable efforts to strengthen its energy policy since the last IEA in-depth review in 2004. A large number of IEA recommendations have been successfully implemented, including greater diversification of the energy mix and increased energy policy co-ordination. A new National Energy Strategy, published in October 2005, identified three principal means for meeting Portugal’s policy goals: the promotion of renewable energy, increased energy efficiency and competition in energy markets.

Over a short period of time, Portugal has become a leader in terms of renewable energy development.  Well-designed incentive mechanisms and the adoption of ambitious targets ensure hydro, wind and other technologies will continue to grow. The National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency was enacted in 2008, and Portugal aims to implement energy efficiency measures equivalent to 9.8% of total final energy consumption by 2015. This plan complements a well developed and co-ordinated climate change policy. Further steps have been taken towards the liberalisation of energy markets, including the innovative creation of a single operator for the transport of natural gas and electricity, natural gas storage and operation of the Sines LNG terminal.

Still, a number of challenges remain. Energy markets are not as competitive as policy makers may have wished, and energy research and development policy coordination needs to be strengthened.

This review provides sectoral critiques of existing policy and recommendations for further improvements. It is intended to serve as an indispensable guide for Portuguese policy makers as they travel along the path to a more sustainable energy future.

This review analyses the energy challenges facing Spain and provides critiques and recommendations for further policy improvements. It finds that since the last IEA in-depth review in 2005, Spain has made significant progress in improving its energy policy. In Europe, the country is now leading in gas diversification and LNG development. Together with Portugal, it has set up the common Iberian electricity market, MIBEL, and has strong ambitions in developing it further. It has also become prominent in developing wind and solar energy technology, and succeeded in integrating large amounts of intermittent power in the electricity grid.

Along with other IEA member countries, Spain has set ambitious climate and energy security targets. Achieving these will require a transition to a low-carbon economy. Spain will need to increase its efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions, particularly in the transport but also the critical power sector. As fossil fuels still provide more than half of electricity,Spain will need to keep open all the options - including nuclear, renewables, and the technology of carbon capture and storage - for making its power sector less carbon-intensive. The country should also increase its efforts to limit peak electricity demand through energy efficiency.

Spain has substantially de-regulated its electricity and gas tariffs, and developed a financial plan to end the large deficit that had built up under the previous tariff regime. Prices for many small electricity users, however, are still regulated and low enough to potentially distort the market. In addition, the still remaining subsidies for domestic coal production should be eliminated and replaced by direct social policy measures.